Our Team

Jacaranda Health is a social enterprise and operates as a 501(c)3 in the US. Our mission is to transform maternal health care in East Africa and make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women and newborns. If you are interested in donating or partnering with Jacaranda Health, please visit our Donate page.

Jacaranda’s staff is made up of professionals from diverse backgrounds in business and healthcare, supported by a network of advisors around the globe.

Management Team

Nick Pearson

Executive Director

Nick Pearson is Founder and Executive Director of Jacaranda Health. Nick has worked at the intersection of business and global health in East Africa, Vietnam, and India. Prior to founding Jacaranda, he worked in Kenya for the Acumen Fund, providing management support to businesses serving the urban poor. Nick is married to an obstetrician, and spent most of his childhood outside of the US.

Sathy Rajasekharan

Chief Innovation Officer

Sathy Rajasekharan is the Chief Innovation Officer at Jacaranda Health, and oversees development of innovative tools, research projects, public sector and academic partnerships, with the aim of leveraging Jacaranda’s expertise and insight to influence maternal healthcare in East Africa. Prior to joining Jacaranda Health, Sathy was a Senior Program Manager for the Drug Access and Health Financing teams of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and led CHAI’s work providing technical assistance to the Swaziland Ministry of Health. He has held previous positions as the Associate Director of the McGill University Centre for Biomedical Innovation (MCBI), where he helped develop a commercialization plan for health technologies; and he was also the Associate Director of a translational research program at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Sathy has a PhD in Neurology and Neurosurgery.

Catherine Nyokabi Ongeti

Hospital Manager

Catherine is a nurse-midwife by profession and has over seven years experience in maternal and newborn health. She joined the Jacaranda team two years ago as a nurse-midwife and rose the ranks to become the hospital manager for our Kahawa West Maternity Hospital. Catherine is responsible for overseeing the daily running of the facility. She has a passion for nurse development, patient experience and quality care. She also assists in quality projects at Jacaranda's two hospitals by reviewing the protocols and providing technical assistance. Catherine has a diploma in nursing, is a registered Community Health Nurse and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Health Systems Management.

Massimo Prati

Chief Administrative Officer

Massimo oversees Jacaranda’s US operations, including finance, human resources and regulatory compliance, and works closely with the leadership team of Jacaranda Health Kenya. An electrical engineer by trade, he spent the better part of the last twenty years as a Vice President at Cisco Systems and he also served as the Director of Operations at Embrace. He holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, both from Stanford University.

Dr. Wanjiru Nduhiu

Doctor in Charge

Dr. Wanjiru Nduhiu joined Jacaranda Health as Doctor in Charge in May 2017. She graduated from The University of Nairobi Medical School with a Bachelors in Medicine and Surgery in 2006 and later with a Masters in Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She holds a Diploma and Fellowship in Minimal access Surgery (Laparascopy) at World Laparoscopy Hospital in New Delhi and is a certified member of WALS World Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons.
She is passionate about natural labor and delivery, and all things obstetrics and a LAMAZE Certified Childhood Educator (LCCE) offering guidance and support throughout pregnancy. She also supports Respective Care of Mothers in labor policies and brings in a wealth of knowledge and experience in dealing with teenagers and issues surrounding this critical period of life.
She is a mother of three children, loves traveling, writing, good jazz and soul music, exploring different cultures and spending time with her family.

Cathy Green

Quality Improvement Consultant

Cathy Green is an independent consultant specializing in the improvement of healthcare systems and leading sustainable change. After working for many years as a senior manager in the National Health Service and Department of Health in England, she moved to Cape Town in 2005 to support improvement programs designed to increase access to treatment for people living with HIV and reduce transmission rates. Initially she worked with local non-governmental organizations across South Africa and then expanded her projects to include women and children's health in Africa and Asia. She joined Jacaranda Health in December 2015 as their Quality Improvement Team Leader. Cathy still lives in Cape Town and when she is not traveling, loves to sail, cycle and scuba dive.

Rachel Jones

Research and Evaluation Project Manager

Rachel Jones, MPH, is a Research and Evaluation Project Manager at Jacaranda Health, based in Nairobi. She manages and analyzes results from various projects and research studies including group antenatal care, nurse mentors leading EmONC skills-building, and m-health initiatives. Rachel has worked with Emory's Global Health Institute on the topic of HIV key populations and religion, CARE USA's Sexual, Reproductive, and Maternal Health team, and the Peace Corps in Morocco doing youth empowerment.

Fridah Mwendwa Mutiiria-Mburu

Clinical Educator

Fridah manages Jacaranda's Continuing Medical Education activities for staff, including case reviews, conferences, workshops, one to one discussions and group discussions. She also oversees the day to day interactions with clinical staff to maintain set standards in line with Jacaranda protocols for provision of quality care. Prior to joining Jacaranda, Fridah worked at an Intensive Care Unit for 5 years, was a general nursing and midwifery tutor for college students, and also worked as a clinical nurse educator for nursing students and post basic nurses. Fridah is a registered nurse and midwife, has a certificate in Intensive Care Nursing, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing at Dundee University.

Ellah Kedera

County Programs Coordinator

Ellah Kedera is the County Programs Coordinator for Jacaranda Health, based in Bungoma County. Before joining Jacaranda Health, Ellah served as a public health program associate for Emory University’s Rollins School of public health where she coordinated research activities in Kenya and Tanzania. She’s also worked on multiple health programs in Kenya. Ellah holds a master’s degree in public health from Emory University.

Board of Directors

Nick Pearson

Executive Director

Nick Pearson is Founder and Executive Director of Jacaranda Health. Nick has worked at the intersection of business and global health in East Africa, Vietnam, and India. Prior to founding Jacaranda, he worked in Kenya for the Acumen Fund, providing management support to businesses serving the urban poor. Nick is married to an obstetrician, and spent most of his childhood outside of the US.

English Sall

English is currently pursuing a PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology at North Carolina State University. She is currently co-founder of an organization called Impact Thread that specializes in organizational development and metrics and evaluation for social impact and humanitarian organizations. She lives in Raleigh NC with her husband, one-year-old son and two dogs. English is also a board member of the Sall Family Foundation.

Farai Shonhiwa

Farai Shonhiwa is Head of Healthcare at Centum Investment Group, where she's responsible for the execution of East Africa's largest listed investment company's healthcare strategy. Previously, she was the Business Projects Manager at Life Healthcare Group in South Africa where she was responsible for driving key strategic initiatives and managing the health policy portfolio. Farai is qualified as a medical doctor and worked in the South African public healthcare sector before joining the global strategy consulting firm, Monitor Group. During her tenure at Monitor Group, she served public and private sector clients across numerous sectors, ultimately becoming Senior Project Manager. She has an MBA from Harvard and also interned for The Prime Minister’s Office in Harare, Zimbabwe, but her most important credential is that she was one of Jacaranda’s first Summer Business Associates in 2010.

Kisimbi Kyumwa Thomas

Kisimbi has extensive experience in RMNCH, HIV, TB, Malaria and Health Systems Strengthening having worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in various capacities including Malawi Country Director and Global Associate Director for Malaria across several countries in Africa and Asia. He has also worked for KPMG’s International Development Advisory Services unit. He is currently the Country Director for Kenya at Evidence Action’s Deworm the World Initiative, which, working with the Government of Kenya, deworms 6 million children in 15,000 school across Kenya. Kisimbi graduated with degrees in nursing and economics from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing and the Wharton School.

Marisa de Belloy

Marisa has 20 years experience in nonprofit management, investment banking, corporate development and M&A oriented consulting with a focus on technology companies. She is currently the COO of Cool Effect, a nonprofit tech start up which provides a platform for the world’s best carbon reduction projects. She also served as COO of Made in a Free World, a nonprofit anti-slavery technology start up. Before that, Marisa created a highly successful media practice at investment banking boutique Michel Dyens & Co. based in Paris and she co-founded, ran and sold Fotango, an online photo sharing site funded by leading European VCs. She has worked at Goldman Sachs and the LEK Partnership and taught M&A at a French university. Marisa speaks fluent French in addition to her native English and has spent 15 years working in Europe. She received her MBA from Stanford University and her BA from Yale.

Susan Doherty

Susan is Managing Director of Coral Tree Partners LLC, a boutique investment management firm. Previously she was Program Manager in Intuit's Corporate Communications Division, where she implemented company-wide initiatives highlighting Intuit's customer focus. Before that, she was Client Services Manager at Digital Impact, one of the first companies to harness web technology to effectively target one-to-one marketing to customers. Susan began her Silicon Valley technology career at CM Capital Corp where she gained broad experience in venture capital and asset management.

Michael Spector

Michael Spector is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Fortress Biotech, where he identifies innovative science to launch new Biotech and Specialty pharmaceutical companies. Michael is also a founding member of Windhoek Healthcare where he launched two Specialty Pharmaceutical Companies. Previously, Michael was Senior Vice President, Global Commercial Operations at Iroko Pharmaceuticals and he spent 15 years with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Senior Management roles in General Management, Product Marketing, and Research and Development. Michael was Vice-President and General Manager of GSK South Africa where he led the overall business and was elected to run the South African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. Michael holds a BS in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Rider University where he currently sits on their Business and Scientific Advisory Boards.

Catherine Casey Nanda

Catherine is Director of Global Expansion for Acumen, a global impact investing fund, where she is responsible for setting strategy, building teams, fundraising and investing in new regions. Most recently Catherine launched Acumen's West Africa office in Accra. Today she is focused on replicating that success in new regions, with an immediate focus on Latin America and Southeast Asia. Prior to this, Catherine helped build social enterprises in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, which included expanding HealthStores' clinics in rural Kenya.

Claire Qureshi

Claire Qureshi helps lead efforts on community health and frontline delivery for the Office of the UN Special Envoy, with an emphasis on supporting African countries to design and finance sustainable, high-impact health systems. In this capacity, she engages closely with ministries of health, official donors, private investors, NGOs, and multilateral partners. Claire is also a member of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) for the Financing Alliance for Health, a multi-partner initiative to support African governments in building resilient health systems that, over time, become financially self-sufficient. Finally, Claire serves as a key advisor on efforts to expand community health in the U.S., in part by drawing on global lessons.
Before she joined the Office of the UN Special Envoy, Claire was a consultant with Results for Development and for McKinsey & Company, where she primarily served hospitals, health systems, and pharmaceutical companies.
In addition to her work in healthcare, Claire also served in the Office of the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Treasury Department, covering international affairs, terrorism and financial intelligence, and tax policy for Secretary Geithner. She was also a White House Intern. Claire received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her B.A. from Yale University. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with her husband and son.

Jacaranda Health aims to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women and newborns by transforming maternity care in East Africa. We build private maternity clinics in peri-urban areas and are innovating to provide patient-centered care that combines quality and affordability.